Alone Now
by No More Masquerade
Summary: Sasuke and Naruto have been dating for a while now, and it hasn't quite settled in for the townspeople. How will they settle this? And can they ever get away from the insults of the town? Maybe some time they'll finally be alone... SasuNaru shounenai R&R!


**Title:** Alone Now

**Author:** Hazy Daze

**Disclaimer:** You know, one day I'm going to become famous and have alot of money, or I'll live on the street as a hobo and end up winning the lottery, and I'll buy "Naruto" and end up pairing up Sasuke and Naruto! Mark my words! But in the mean time, no, I don't own Naruto, and the last money I made was by mowing our front lawn for my dad, which, ironically, the money ended up falling out of my pocket, and I mowed over it. owO;;;

**Summary:** Sasuke and Naruto have been dating for a while now, and it hasn't quite settled in for the townspeople. How will they settle this? And can they ever get away from the insults of the town? Maybe some time they'll finally be alone... SasuNaru shounen ai Please Review!

Sometimes that voice of his seemed louder than it really was, with or without echo. Through the training field, over the trees, and into the ears of all the observers and his target listener, the pained, hurtful, and slightly artificial voice cracked like a whip in dirt, causing the chain reaction of dust, or in this case, crude remarks and disagreements.

"Sometimes I wish we'd never met!"

Even to the one person who knew the secret behind this, to the one person who knew what this really meant, to the one person who understood this, it still hurt like hell, cut like blades, clenched his heart like it was trying to drain every ounce of love, memory, empathy, and blood from it and into the soul of a demon to never return.

Sasuke shook his head slightly, confusing many of the people in the crowd around him. His blue-tinted raven bangs waved in and out of his sight; locks of hair sweeping over his eyelashes, making many a girl swoon, but only annoying him to no end that his long hair always got in the way.

_You're just over reacting, baka..._ he growled to him self _Calm yourself... Don't let feelings ever get in the way of a battle, no matter what they mean... _Sasuke took a deep breath and clutched his kunai tighter, readjusting his dazed gaze and glaring daggers into his opponent.

"I can't fix that," Sasuke growled, loud enough so the boy across the way from him could hear, not caring if the others could hear, adding to the effect that this was all real, "but I can make it so you'll never have to see me again..." Sasuke pounded one foot forward, stomping purposely so the dirt beneath his feet shuffled and caused small clouds of beige-brown to arise then settle back down. But he paid no mind to this once he stepped, for as soon as the force of the step had lunged his body, he whipped out his arm, snapped his wrist, and let the kunai fly from it, heading directly for Naruto's head. This happened in such a quick, swift moment, that, though the time to explain may cause it to take on a slow motion effect, once his foot had lifted to stomp forward and throw, one could have blinked and missed it all.

To blink again, one would have certainly missed Sasuke's opponents next move. The boy bent down so quickly, it was as if he had seen this coming. Oh, but he didn't stop there. He balanced himself with his hands on the ground and kicked up his feet, hitting them together, catching the kunai. Maximum damage? A slight tear at the cuff of his orange pants.

Many people began to mutter amongst eachother about their surprise in the boy's improvement, several people gasped, and a few girls giggled. But was this enough for the boy? Oh no, no.

His legs, which had swung up so quickly that, once his feet had grasped the kunai, had fallen backwards over his head. The boy half smirked half scowled at Sasuke between his legs in a way that seemed to show humor and a still artificial anger. He rocked back on his hands so the only thing supporting him was the very base of his palm, and then he quickly snapped his legs forward, dropping his feet at just the precise moment.

Sasuke gritted his teeth and back flipped, rounding over the kunai's path, his feet making a clicking sound as his sandals met with the solid ground. The contact triggered nerves in his feet that made his whole leg hurt. _Damn showoff..._ Sasuke grumbled in his head. But the thought quickly vanished as he looked back at the boy. It was clear that he had _just_ gotten to his feet; his blonde hair bouncing around his head, and golden locks shuffling over his face. The way his slender fingers just so elegantly, when he had been attempting elegance the least, pushed the hair from his eyes, exposing the twinkling sapphire blue that seem to leak with a pain much deeper than any battle could cause. He met Sasuke's gaze, and he looked like he wanted to smirk, if not smile, but he scrunched his nose and attempted to gain an exterior that he was glaring with hatred at Sasuke. It looked more like someone had just stuck their smelly socks under his nose after he had clearly said not to.

"You're not ready for this," and Naruto finally couldn't seem to hold it, and he smirked widely, trying to conceal his smile. Sasuke straightened, preparing him self for anything; he knew Naruto well, but no matter how close one was with him, it seemed Naruto always seemed to have a trick up his sleeve and a surprise for every occasion.  
Bracing himself, Sasuke took on a stance--feet spread out, kunai at ready--that would help him defend and attack. Though very few noticed, Naruto had watched Sasuke, waiting until he was prepared for Naruto's blow. A safety precaution some might say, but it was oh so much more than that.

Naruto made several familiar hand signs, and with the final one, he shouted, "Kage bunshin no jutsu!" Sasuke wanted to roll his eyes; he had been expecting something new and exciting; a challenge. Granted, it wasn't like it wouldn't be difficult to deal with this technique, but still, he'd seen it so many times before. Though, what did he think; Naruto had been sneaking out, unnoticed, learning some new technique or something? And _without_ Sasuke noticing? From an outsiders point, that may have seemed rather so-so. They were only on the same team; they couldn't possibly always be together. But, alas, Sasuke was no outsider; he knew more about Naruto then possibly anyone. Besides, it would be rather hard for anyone to sneak out of bed in the middle of the night when you sleep with a ninja.

Kunai at ready, Sasuke prayed to all that there was that Naruto was smart enough to not let him, himself, come upon Sasuke. Oh, nothing would hurt more if he jabbed his kunai into the stomach of such an important person, thinking it was a clone. Sure, the kyuubi would heal it, but the thought that he inflicted pain on Naruto that was so harsh as life-threatening when he knew Naruto meant no harm... he could never forgive himself.

Hundreds of shadow clones popped up all around Sasuke, yet none attacked. Several girls squealed loudly, a few guys whooped, and many a person groaned, accompanied by an eye roll. Sasuke, too, would have groaned and rolled his eyes if he hadn't been dealing with the blood slowly leaking out of his nose. He was now half glad that clones surrounded him; that way no one could see him like this.

Naruto had been right. Sasuke had been completely unprepared for hundreds of Narutos; not a one wearing a shirt and all their pants low on the hip. The familiar golden hair was no longer spiked, but down and tousled, the steal plated ninja band down loosely around the neck.

A voice cooed in Sasuke's ear, and he lifted his fist to punch the clone, but when he heard what it said... "Oi, Sasuke-teme. You look so pretty when you're all toughened up like this..." Two fingers walked along Sasuke's shoulder, around his neck, and down his chest until a hand lay flat on his toned stomach, another arm looping under Sasuke's arm and pulling him closer. Sasuke almost didn't want to try this, but it had to be done.

Sasuke clenched his fist and pulled it back, jabbing forcefully with his elbow into the stomach of what he prayed was a clone. It was so hard to do it, though. The scent was the same; ramen and freshly cut strawberries, the feel was the same; soft skin, strong arms, hands that tried so carefully to be menacingly irresistible, and the voice: there wasn't a difference to be found.

Turning around, thinking he'd face more clones, Sasuke almost collapsed in shock. There stood the same face as them all, but contorted in pain and annoyance. "The hell, teme?" Naruto hissed, doubled over and clutching his stomach. Sasuke blinked and furrowed his brow. Was the big surprise that his clones no longer disappeared when hit?

Sasuke pursed his lips and looked around at the rest. If this technique really was making these clones as stable as humans, then none of these better be the real Naruto. Stepping back a bit, Sasuke had been about to make some room so he could run at the clones, but backed into some instead, and was instantly taken up by them.

"Heya, teme!" one cooed, grabbing his arm and cuddling up to him. Just the same as the first one...

"Aw, you're all sweaty, koiboto," said another, placing a hand on his cheek and rubbing it with its thumb. Still the same...

"You're so cute when you're frustrated," said one behind him, wrapping its arms around his neck. Same... exactly...

In the clearing, the first clone watched with a smirk, his arms crossed, seemingly recovered from his blow. "Having fun, teme?" he bit, grinning almost evilly. Now that was real. Could this mean that that was actually the real Naruto? One way to find out.

Sasuke pulled away from the fawning clones and turned sharply, his leg up and ready to kick. He swung it up, high enough to sweep it over the clones' heads, but let it lag slightly so, as his foot came up, it hit the first clone in the head. With a puff of smoke, it was gone, but not before Sasuke had hit the next one in his foot's path, and the next, and the next.

The smoke surrounded Sasuke and he backed out of it, standing in the small clearing amongst all the clones. As the smoke drifted skyward, a cheer from the crowd filled the air, which was hot and stuffy from all the bodies within it, real and fake. Sasuke groaned loudly, though no one could hear him amongst the giggles and chatter of the many golden haired boys, pointing and grinning at Sasuke like he was on display.

"Ah, dobe," Sasuke growled, keeping a distance from Naruto as if he were going to attack him, "You actually thought this would phase me?" He smirked smugly and turned so his hip faced the real Naruto, kunai in hand.

Naruto smirked back, his eyes twinkling with triumph, "Don't act like it didn't, teme. I see that blood on your nose and hands." Sasuke scowled and turned his head, blushing slightly. He ran his hands down his shirt and rubbed his arm under his nose. _That dobe..._ he thought _He's playing me as a pervert... I know it..._ Sasuke huffed, irked, and finally had enough. This battle didn't mean anything to him, so he was ready to just get it over with. Normally, the best thing to do would be to rid of the main source; the real Naruto. But this was _his_ Naruto, his little kitsune, his koi. He couldn't just stab him in the heart and be done with this battle. Well, he could, but he wasn't going to.

Sasuke heard a sigh and turned to the source, where Naruto had plopped to the ground as if bored with Sasuke's, what he considered, stalling. Sasuke scowled. The dobe knew damn well that if he were in any other battle, he would die for doing that, but it was clear that he also knew Sasuke had a soft spot for him, especially when he looked so cute like that; sitting in a half lotus, yawning because, and though he might not admit it aloud, but certainly mentally, he knew it hit Sasuke's buttons.

Looking away, Sasuke shook off the image of Naruto sitting but a few yards away, and tried to pretend he wasn't there so he wouldn't be tempted to get another look. _... Ok, once more, and then let's get this over with_, Sasuke growled to him self, giving in to his instincts to want to stare openly at Naruto for just an hour longer. He shifted his gaze, not turning his head; he wasn't going to let Naruto know that he really _did_ think he was cute like that, and that Naruto _was_ pushing all the right buttons. His heart seemed to tingle as he looked over at the boy, who looked extremely interested in the sound his feet made when his sandals clicked together. Naruto watched as his feet hit eachother, and then started smiling; it could have been because he was amused, it could have been because, for once in his life, he noticed how stupid he was being, awed by his own sandals, or perhaps he was just randomly happy. For whatever reason, and any reason, it made Sasuke's heart jump and his breath catch in his throat. He hadn't even noticed that he'd finally turned his head to face Naruto.

Naruto seemed to feel Sasuke's eyes, and he lifted his head, the sun hitting his eyes and making them shine in the most curious of manners. His lips formed a tiny 'o', and his bottom lip stuck out just enough to make Sasuke twitch. It took a few seconds, but Sasuke finally realized that he had done just what he had tried not to do; stare at Naruto, and turned away sharply, closing his mouth, which had been hanging open, awed by a loveliness that he couldn't seem to be able to explain. And while on that subject, might I say that, the few times he _had_ tried to explain it, his words were jumbled, none of his sentences seemed to make any sense, a smile that he rarely revealed kept popping up, he had said the words 'cute', 'cuddly', and 'perfect' in basically every so-called sentence, and he continuously stopped to scrunch his nose and try to figure out how to explain the beauty that was his Naruto.

_Alright, enough!_ Sasuke screamed to himself, and clenched his kunai tight enough to leave its imprint on the palm of his hand. He scanned over the clones and, though something in his gut just couldn't do this; "Just look at how cute they are!" it seemed to shout, he found himself running at the mob, keeping in check that the _real_ Naruto was still in the center, sitting down peacefully, and watching like this was all a show. Lucky for him, another part of him that had a thirst for inflicting injury was just fine with this, and enjoyed the thrust of his kunai into every stomach, arm, head, neck, so on so forth.

At last, there were only two left. One was sitting down and the other smirking at Sasuke in a way that said, "Yeah, you're going to get rid of me, but you still find me irresistibly cute." And, it was very right.

A lot of the crowd had died down, but several familiar people; Ino, Sakura, Shikamaru, Kiba, Hinata, Neji, Lee, and Shino, remained. Most of them seemed to be rather worried looking, and Sasuke didn't know and really didn't think he'd care why, and he shook of the thought that there might be good reason behind it, running at the standing clone. With a hard jab of his kunai and a puff of smoke, it was gone. There was no applause, as he had expected. _Fine with me_, Sasuke scoffed in his head, _The less they pay me mind the more time I have alone time with Naruto._ Sasuke was just turning around to face the real Naruto, who was still sitting, when something struck him like a brick in the stomach. It was kind of like that feeling when you're on a roller coaster, and you go down so suddenly, that it feels like your stomach broke away and floated out of it's position, then drops back again. But this time, Sasuke's stomach dropped back so hard; it was nearly as bad as it disappearing.

"What..." Sasuke uttered, wide eyed, "how... who did..."

"It was what you were aiming for... r-right...?" stammered a feminine voice behind him. He felt Sakura's hand on his shoulder, and he could tell she was about to continue, but he didn't let her.

Violently brushing Sakura's hand from his shoulder, Sasuke didn't take his eyes from Naruto as he snapped, "I had _no_ intentions of hurting him." His breathing had quickened and he couldn't seem to get enough air to satisfy his lungs.

Sakura stepped up and paused when she was about a foot in front of Sasuke. "We ought to help him," she muttered, heading to where a still, bloodied body lay. It was injured at the stomach and it was clear that if this person weren't so special as to have a demon locked inside him, then he may not survive. Still, the wound wasn't so bad that you couldn't identify him; identify Naruto.

As if in some kind of daze, Sasuke watched Sakura crouch at Naruto's side like he were watching a movie. Then, awareness over came him, and a great jealousy flood throughout his body. No way that brat Sakura was going to be the first person Naruto saw when he opened his eyes. Sasuke didn't give a damn what Naruto's reaction to seeing him would be like, after he unintentionally forced a kunai into his stomach, just so long as Naruto saw him first. And for a split second, the reason behind Sasuke's want for Naruto to crack those sapphire eyes and lay them upon himself were just because he was Naruto; his special little Naru-chan, the jewel in his mine of coal, the sunflower in his garden of weeds, and no one need interfere with that. Then, as his mind raced, so quick he couldn't keep up, making the world around him seem to move in slow motion, he realized that it may have been Naruto, and anyone else become unconscious at his hands, he really wouldn't care if they saw their worst fear when they finally opened their eyes, but it was because he loved Naruto, and he wanted to know that he would be ok as soon as possible, and that meant before anyone else found out. He couldn't let any other person take Naruto's health into their hands when they didn't know what they were doing and really only gave half a damn; only his hands could be trusted to save Naruto, weather he was on verge of death, or scraped his knee on the side walk, because only his hands, only his heart, cared this much; cared like this.

Sasuke felt his feet lift from the ground, and every other movement felt numb, so when he had finally stopped and dropped heavily to his knees, gashing them with rocks and infecting them with dirt, he didn't even know that he'd moved from the last spot he'd been at, and the only pain he felt was not in his knees, but in the pit of his stomach, where a fear of losing something so dear, almost like losing all the air in world, lurched and dug at his innards. Sakura looked up in surprise, not having heard Sasuke due to his ninja skill of remaining absolutely silent and light on his feet. She made to speak, but again, Sasuke would not have it. Just as bad as Naruto seeing her first would be Naruto hearing her first. Sasuke reached out to Naruto, meaning Sakura would have to move away, seeing as Sasuke was taking up an exaggeratedly needed amount of space to lean his head over Naruto's chest, and he let out a sharp, "Shhh!" indicating he needed silence to hear the heart beat, but mainly just because he didn't want her to speak. Sakura nearly wanted to say that his heart beat was fine, and opened her mouth, words on her tongue, but Sasuke didn't seem to be his regular snappy self, but something more, something that reminded her of a cat with her kittens, hissing and spitting at you to get away, so instead she let out a deep breath and scooted away, making room for Sasuke.

_Th-thmp... th-thmp...th-thmp... th-thmp..._ It was the most glorious sound Sasuke had heard in a long time; the best thing since Naruto had said, on that day when they were sitting on that brick wall, watching the blinding glow of pink fade into the horizon, "I... I love you too, Sasuke..." Oh, Sasuke had never seen Naruto blush darker, and that smile just seemed so much more rewarding on that day. But now Naruto's face was pale and sullen, and his normally pink lips were a slight shade of blue, and showed no sort of emotion on them what so ever. How could this have happened? He had been very careful as to make sure that the real Naruto was in the center, sitting down. He could have screamed for letting this happen, and two times as loud on behalf of Naruto's stupidity. What had he been thinking?

How often Sasuke asked himself that, followed up with, _If only I were from the Hyuuga clan instead of Uchiha. What I wouldn't give to know what went through that cute little head of his..._ And really, he wouldn't mind being in Neji's place once and a while. There wasn't much more benefit being a Hyuuga over being an Uchiha, but at least you had _someone_. Nowadays, if you were an Uchiha, sure, you were a priceless gem, but you were also one half of the entire clan. It seemed rather miraculous to some if you knew why there were only two; it meant that you either killed the entire clan, save one, or you were the only one spared death. To Sasuke, this seemed rather pitiful; you weren't special at all. Sure, you had a natural Sharingan and probably fair talent, but still, it was nearly gross to be the killer, and just as horrid to be the one spared, the one that was supposedly too weak to bother with, the one that was supposed to avenge his entire clan and then patch it up by having kids when you were in love with someone of the same sex. Living a life alone just seemed so much worse than having to live a life surrounded by family, though you've lost your father. Sasuke would give just his father over his entire clan any day.

Holding his hand just centimeters above Naruto's mouth, Sasuke let out a sigh as he felt hot breath his palm. Given, Naruto's breathing was jagged and hanging on edge, as if it was trying its hardest to get air in, but it was air, coming from out here, ending up in his lungs, and sending oxygen to the rest of his body. That's all Sasuke wanted for that breathing to do.

By now, the last of the onlookers had stepped up so as to get a better look at Naruto. Honestly, each thought that ran through each head was most certainly related with, "I have to help!" but each mind surrounding Sasuke and Naruto also had more common sense that a walnut, therefore, knowing well enough that Sasuke would probably, and with no exaggeration, punch them in the face if they tried to aid the wounded Naruto with anything as small as a rag for washing off or bandaging. No. Sasuke could do this on his own. Hell, Naruto hardly needed help at all; he could be fine on his own. He _did_ hold the kyuubi, and you just didn't mess with the kyuubi and expect to be rewarded with the death of your target, Naruto, so easily when all you did was jab the boy in the stomach with a pre-sharpened kunai.

Suddenly a thought hit Sasuke; it was feeble and basically impossible, but he had to make certain. What if there was the off, _off_ chance that this was just a clone? That this was one of Naruto's tricks? Sasuke glanced up so quickly, as if Naruto would be snatched up from under his nose while he had his head turned, that all he saw were blurs of color; but the green and black that he saw was enough to confirm that who he was looking for was here.

"Shikamaru," Sasuke said in a raspy tone, his throat dry. He kept his eyes and the beautiful face, begging it to burst back into life and laugh at him for falling for his trick, or even just to wake up and ensure him that he was ok. Shikamaru was just beginning to respond, before Sasuke demanded, "Go kick that clone over there in the head."

"Why m-" Shikamaru began, but received a violent jab in the shoulder from Ino, and he sighed, exasperated, and made his way over to the clone, muttering, "Troublesome," as he walked.

Sasuke could hear the squabble of the clone, or what he hoped was the real Naruto, as Shikamaru approached him. "You can't get rid of _me_!" he teased, and by the sound of it, Shikamaru couldn't seem to keep the guy still long enough to kick him, or touch him at all. "Catch me his you can, sucker!" called the familiar voice that pained Sasuke's ears to hear when he was almost certain it wasn't the real thing. But he dared not look up from Naruto's face; all forbid that Sasuke wasn't the first to see those crystal eyes sparkling by the light of the sun as it crawled away to wake up it's next victim of morn.

"Damn it, stay put!" shouted Shikamaru from somewhere across the training grounds. Sasuke could have laughed at Naruto's irritating manner of getting his way, but that wasn't Naruto. No, it sounded like him, looked like him, and acted like him, but though Sasuke _wanted_ to believe it was Naruto, he knew it was a clone. Surfacing like bubbles in a boiling pot, the fact that he had truly caused Naruto this kind of pain was finally settling in. Mind, not settling in a way that he accepted it and was ok with it, but that he understood it, and was going to fix it.

He heard a loud shout, and Sasuke finally looked up from Naruto and at Shikamaru. That had been Naruto's shout; did that mean he was shouting from pain because he had been hurt and hadn't disappeared? Heart skipping a beat, Sasuke watched as Shikamaru finally got a hold of Naruto, having him in a headlock. It didn't seem to bother Sasuke so much; Naruto was a brat like that a lot any way, and Sasuke paid him his dues as well, just in his own special ways.

Then something dropped onto Sasuke, and had it been a physical object, it probably would have broken a few bones. If this was the real Naruto, he would have caved in on his joke and told Shikamaru that he was the real Naruto. And knowing Naruto, he would have shouted it loud enough for the village to hear, just to get his point across, but Sasuke had been listening, and all he had heard were crude comments about Shikamaru's hair, taunts of victory- how Shikamaru didn't stand a chance, and the few yelps of pain. Sasuke finally lost hope, and just when he did, he watched as Shikamaru's fist came down on Naruto's head hard, and wisps of smoke slid through his fingers and around his body.

"Damn," Sasuke just had to say it. It was confirmed; if this wasn't Naruto then by damn he'd swear off of avenging his clan for as long as he lived. Ok, that was kind of harsh... He'd swear off of eating rice cakes for as long as he lived, instead... But if it wasn't... No, no, Naruto always came before rice cakes... Nyah... but they were _rice cakes_...

_The hell are you thinking?_ Sasuke growled at him self. This was practically calling bets on weather Naruto would live or not, as if he were a horse race or something. How could Sasuke be so unfeeling? Well, he _was_ Sasuke, after all...

There was a gasp and Sasuke blinked. It had been one of the girls, he knew it; Naruto didn't have such a feminine gasp. But what caused the gasp was Sasuke's real motive. His head snapped back to look at Naruto so fast that a terrible pain spiked at his neck, but he ignored it and focused on Naruto.

"His hand is-" Ino began, but Sasuke jetted his hand up, silencing her. She was as quiet as if told her next word would kill her, and she shrunk back behind Shikamaru, who had just returned from his little "mission", and she grasped at his arm, clinging both in fear that Sasuke would spontaneously jump to his feet and throw everything sharp he had at her, and in anticipation as Sasuke spotted what Ino had seen.

Heart racing faster than a horse, Sasuke peered down at Naruto's right hand, the one nearest him, as it twitched and as fingers trembled and wiggled, then back at Naruto's face. Just as Sasuke had averted his gaze, Naruto's brow furrowed in pain and his eyes shut tight. As much as Sasuke wanted Naruto to open his eyes, any reaction was better then a death-like stillness.

"His wound's nearly healed..." whispered someone, whom Sasuke guessed was Kiba, in the small crowd. Sasuke glanced quickly at the gash that was now nearly closed. All he had wanted was a conformation; it wasn't hard to believe that it had healed as fast as it did. It happened all the time.

Lips cracking open, Naruto was finally coming around, and Sasuke nearly hugged him, but feared he'd hurt the one dearest him, so he remained still, watching... waiting...

Naruto opened his eyes, and at first, he thought he was dreaming, or had been out so long that it was night. But night isn't nearly as dark as what he saw: onyx black and nothing more. Then, things came into focus; everything became quite a nice bit clearer, and he found that this black was surrounded by white, and around that a creamy pale color that reminded him of a very white peach. A draping of black hung about it, as if framing it all in, shining in the slightest, but with a blue tinge. Was this who he thought it was...? It was highly likely...

Lifting his hand, Naruto reached up for the creamy skin and barely skimmed it with his fingertips. Another hand came up to greet his own, and though it hadn't moved very fast, it was going at a faster pace than Naruto, and made the boy feel dizzy. His lids drooped, but he could still see the figure above him enough to tell that he was still there, and hadn't moved.

Blinking, Naruto wiggled his nose when he felt a small something hit it. Suddenly, whatever it was seemed to roll down his nose and down his cheek. It was wet, but comfortably warm. It circled his cheek and stopped as it reached the crack of his lips. Mustering all his strength, Naruto opened his mouth and let the substance fall to his tongue. Salty tasting in an earthy sort of way: it took a moment, but Naruto soon found what this was.

Trying his best to focus his sight, Naruto set his gaze on Sasuke, who was still hovering above him. Yes, there they were; shiny tears leaking from his eyes and slowly making there way to the tip of his perfect nose. The next tear that fell upon Naruto, Sasuke seemed to notice, and wiped away the tears on the white fabric upon his arms. Then he turned away, looking behind him. _What... is he...?_ Naruto thought, squinting to try to see Sasuke clearly.

"He's fine!" Sasuke shouted as if this were a waste of his time, "You can go home!"

"Need any help, Sasuke Uchiha? I can carry him if you-" Was that Lee Naruto was hearing? When did he get here? Or was he where he had last remembered, falling hard to the ground after, in one, swift motion, a kunai was sliced through his stomach, and pulled out forcefully?

"No," Sasuke snapped, and Naruto finally felt Sasuke's hand on his chest as he gripped his orange jacket angrily.

Footsteps padded away as Lee said, "Alright; good luck, and give Naruto my get well!" _Hm... Act like I'm not here..._

Sasuke was just turning back to Naruto, as the latter blinked rapidly in surprise; thoughts came pouring into his head, as if all begging to be thought about at one time. _Am I still on the training grounds? Where are all the clones? My stomach hurts like hell! Did Sasuke have another nosebleed? Is the crowd gone?_

"Naruto...?" Sasuke uttered, a hand finding its way to Naruto's face, fingers brushing over the lips that were becoming more and more colorful as Naruto regained strength. Sasuke wiped the tears from Naruto's lips that had traveled down his own cheeks onto Naruto's. "Are you... awake?"

The only response Naruto could manage was a, "Ye...ah..." Hardly audile, but Sasuke heard what he'd said and understood. His muscled eased slightly and he slumped from his crouching position onto his rump, the impact creating small clouds of dust in the air.

Sasuke hadn't been so relieved about anything since he'd found out that, a couple months ago, Naruto hadn't _really_ passed out because that stuff Kiba had put in his ramen had been a deathly poison, but that he'd rushed away from the ramen stand when he was done, and, seeing as it _was_ a type of poison Kiba had tossed in there, lost coordination, to an eerie extreme, resulting in teetering around dangerously and being trampled by a cart being pulled by two bulls, later being stepped on by the bustling crowds until Sasuke had stumbled over one of his legs, and was mentally running around screaming and crying while his physical self slung Naruto over his shoulder as if he always found Naruto lying in the middle of the road, presumably dead. He really hadn't thought Kiba had been serious when he told him that Naruto had had any poison at all, let alone a fatal one, but when he'd gone to check on Naruto at the ramen shack, for the sake of proving himself right and sticking his nose in the air at Kiba, showing off his wits, which Kiba seemingly was short on, there was the blonde, whom he considered highly fragile, though he knew this was a lie that his brain had concocted in order to allow himself to believe he had reason to protect him, unconscious, or what he thought was dead, and bloodied, orange jacket and pants torn and dirtied.

Though the relief of this situation was far much more... relieving: almost so that it was exhausting. He couldn't yet tell if Naruto was angry with him or not for jabbing him in the stomach, but at least he hadn't been paralyzed with fright, or beside himself with rage when he'd opened his eyes and saw it was Sasuke looking back at him. Of course, though it would have been very Naruto-like to be angry with Sasuke for stabbing him, it _was_ his fault. Sasuke always tried to make it out that he was not one for blaming people, but when it was so obvious that even someone totally not involved in the situation could tell who's fault it was, one could hardly help but at least be slightly annoyed with Naruto, no matter what state he was in.

_Such a dobe..._ Sasuke growled in his head. They had had a special plan for this fight; written on diagrams and all that cool stuff. Apparently, a lot of the town had heard about their prior rivalry, and decided it would be fun to watch such a fight between the great Sasuke Uchiha and the despised Naruto Uzumaki, or as they (the towns people) preferred; Kyuubi. The main point was to get the towns folk off their backs so they could go down the street without people yelling at the two of them about how Sasuke shouldn't degrade himself and start hanging with the "demon kid". Naruto would clench his fists angrily and pick up his pace, but said nothing. Several times Sasuke flipped them off while Naruto wasn't looking, but the pair weren't walking around just so they could have people comment on their relationship, which no one fully understood yet besides Naruto and Sasuke; they had places to go and things to do and no time to stop and argue with people that they could have dead in less than five minutes.

So, the fight had gone by the plan at first, though Naruto's acting skills hadn't been top notch; enough to fool the audience, who had all thought that Naruto was a brainless monster who's only goal was to destroy them all and had no idea that he didn't sound exactly like his real self. Sasuke told Naruto that they'd treat this like a training session, so he could use any attack and Sasuke would counter, and that, if he were using shadow clone to definitely _not_ let his true self get near Sasuke if he saw that Sasuke was showing no mercy. They'd end the fight with whoever ran out of energy first and couldn't go on being the "loser". In this case, though Sasuke hadn't thought about trying to and hadn't tried to go soft on Naruto, he would have much preferred Naruto won this battle.

Though he didn't know for sure, Sasuke found it likely that the crowd had seen the fallen Naruto, had known it was the real one, and cheered loudly, then left. Sasuke, being one to block out all happy noises that didn't come from Naruto, must've not heard them and continued his fight. Sasuke scowled mentally; those idiots. Would they have booed if Naruto had won, if he (Sasuke) had been the one to fall first? A fight was a fight, and best man wins: if Naruto won, then he was better than Sasuke, and that was that. How could the townspeople have a problem with that? What kind of disgusting things were they? If anything, they should boo Sasuke for losing, not Naruto for winning. Sasuke shook his head slightly. They hadn't even booed Naruto about winning yet; what in the world was he getting all worked up about? He should have had his mind on other things, on his little gift...

Naruto groaned loudly and clenched his fists, then chomping down on his teeth fiercely and hissing in pain. "Ah!" The sounds seemed to accidentally slip out, like he had been holding them in and trying not to let anyone hear them: but hell, they were out now. "T-teme!" Naruto shouted, one hand jetting up and grasping at Sasuke's shirt. Sasuke, startled by all the sudden noise and movement, stuttered something that not even he could understand, and gently grabbed Naruto's wrist. "It-it hurts!" The strangled voice spread over the field, and Sasuke was sure that one of the ninja that had just left was sure to be back any second.

No words came to mind as Sasuke rubbed his thumb soothingly over the top of Naruto's hand. He still screamed in pain as all his feeling came back to him, and his ability to move and make sounds made impact, but at least his left hand was relaxed and no longer nearly choking Sasuke to death. Still, Sasuke said nothing. He had nothing _to_ say and couldn't come up with anything. He had been thinking he would have to calm Naruto down by telling him he didn't stab him on purpose and that he would never want to hurt him and how much he loved him, but Naruto hadn't yet said anything negative towards Sasuke relating to him stabbing him, so there was nothing to say. And he wasn't about to lie and say, "It'll be alright. You'll be ok," and what good does, "Shhh," and "It's ok," really do?

Of course, there was always that theory that a loved one's voice is rather soothing. Personally, Sasuke found Naruto's voice in the morning whenever he woke up and his good night before they fell asleep much preferable to any harps, piano, flutes, violins, or singing he'd ever heard, and it gave him reason to get out of bed and helped him sleep at night, like a lullaby.

So, maybe saying something _would_ help. Now the question was what to say. Before he had become so close to Naruto, he probably would have become stern and said "Kami, suck it up, dobe, it's already healing," but this was different. Sure, he could say that, and Naruto would catch the I'm-at-a-loss-for-words-so-just-use-your-imagination vibe, but to know that his own boyfriend wouldn't take the time to come up with anything soothing and reassuring would probably just make poor Naruto feel even crappier. _I could rephrase what I just thought up..._ Sasuke mulled, going over in his head, _'Calm down, dobe, it's already healing.' ... Still too demanding... 'Hush, dobe, it'll be alright.' Hm..._ Sasuke both wanted to laugh and slap himself for his next shot, _'On the plus side, the way you look right now is really turning me on...' Ok _no Sasuke nearly prayed thanks to whatever gods there were when he finally hit the nail on the head, as far as his standards went, _'Shhh. Calm down, love. Look_, here he'd place his hand on Naruto's cheek and whisper, as Naruto's groans and screams subsided, _'you're already healing.'_ Ah yes, a brilliant plan from a brilliant man... boy... thing. He could see it now... Well, he hated to admit that it looked like something you'd see in, "The Notebook," which he also would never admit he'd seen before, in the confines of his home, having used Henge no jutsu to look like Sakura. Though it was rather funny to see her the next day, saying how weird it was that the clerk behind the counter had asked her if she'd enjoyed "The Notebook," if she'd finished watching already, and that she must have really liked movies to come back again the same day, when she had gone out to rent the movie, "French Kiss". When she told Sasuke these things, he'd asked her "why you think I'd ever care?" She nodded, tears in her eyes, and turned away. What a sap.

Sighing, and mustering all and any sympathy and care that he had, Sasuke practiced the line once more in his head, before squeezing Naruto's hand slightly, gaining his attention, and cooed, "Shhh," he kissed Naruto's hand and Naruto hiccupped, tears sparkling on his cheeks, "Calm down, love. Look," he then, just as planned, placed his free hand on Naruto's wet cheek and caressed it gently, and, just as he had thought, by now the only sound Naruto was making were his uneven hiccups and his choppy breathing, "you're already healing." The tanned face didn't phase and the eyes didn't widen as if shocked, but they seemed to shift, like a slide show, from agony and helplessness, to gratitude and tenderness. His breathing evened slightly, and Sasuke glanced quickly down as the wound as it seemed to be closing at an eerily fast pace, like out of some sort of twisted horror movie.

As Sasuke looked back at Naruto's face, he was nearly-fallen-over-with-a-heart-attack alarmed to find that the boy was struggling to his elbows, and that his face was only inches from his own. "Dobe!" Sasuke shouted, causing the other boy to wobble and nearly fall if Sasuke hadn't shoved his arms around his back and gently lowered him slightly so he was barely hovering over the ground. "Don't _do_ that, baka!" he said, sounding as if he'd just ran across the entire field and caught Naruto before he'd hit the ground after jumping off a three-story building.

"But you said-!" Naruto protested hoarsely, his eyelids too heavy and ruining his glaring effect.

"'Healing,' not 'healed'," Sasuke growled, gently slipping his arms out from under the boy and letting him back on the ground. He was about to stand up, ready to carry Naruto home, but when he lifted his head, he found two strong, but what he pretended were very frail and tiny, arms wrapped around his neck, clinging and not letting go.

Naruto smirked behind his pain and irritation, and pulled himself up, reassuring Sasuke in a just-stand-up-straight-unless-you're-waiting-for-someone-to-fuck-you-in-the-ass-you-pervert-I'll-be-fine kind of way. One can only imagine how he sent out those vibes, but he did, and Sasuke nearly blushed, and grabbed Naruto's waist, steadying him, then stood straight, making sure his stomach didn't rub against Naruto's wound.

"Home?" Naruto said, and not in a tone that said that was all he could manage, but in a cute way, like he didn't know enough words to say "Are we heading home?" Mentally scowling at the way he found even Naruto's most unintentional doings very cute or attractive, Sasuke nodded. Naruto swung his legs up and wrapped them around Sasuke's waist, clinging tighter around Sasuke's neck. Sasuke nearly blushed again, though he would _not_ be allowing that to happen, and he tried his best not to seem like he was suggesting anything as he set his hands on Naruto's rear end and hitched him up higher to get a more comfortable hold, then quickly brought his hands to Naruto's back. He had heard Naruto gasp slightly when he'd touched him, but made no snide comments about how Sasuke always took up the chance to feel him up.

As Sasuke made his way across the field, he noticed that Naruto didn't seem to be bothered by his wound pressing against Sasuke's stomach, and he stopped his efforts to keep from touching it, tightening his hold around Naruto and smiling as he felt Naruto nuzzle into his shoulder and neck.

The sun was nearly set, accept for a dangerously dark orange halo around the horizon. Sasuke was glad that Naruto was the one facing it; he loved sunsets, and always got excited when the sun was going down, dragging Sasuke outside and leading him up to the roof so they could watch. It's not like Sasuke didn't like them, though he preferred sun_rise_, it's just that he wanted Naruto to have something to entertain him while he was being carried back home. For some reason, however, Sasuke had the intense feeling that Naruto wasn't even giving any mind to the sunset, which kind of upset Sasuke, seeing as he had actually been thinking about him, and was sort of doing something on his behalf, when he didn't even care. Though, what had he expected; he was probably exhausted from the blood loss, and he _had_ just endured a scenario in which any other person probably would have died.

"Hey, teme," said Naruto a while after Sasuke had entered the forest.

"Hn?'

Naruto paused to rub his cheek affectionately against Sasuke's neck. "That whole time... we were alone?"

Sasuke hitched Naruto up again, an un-innocent pleasure of knowing that he could grab Naruto's ass without him snapping. "Well..." he began slowly, his walk slowing to what was more like a pleasant stroll, "by the time you woke up, yeah." The hair swishing and the semi-rapid rubbing signaled that Naruto was nodding.

"And now," said Naruto, his grip becoming tighter still, but not in a way that would choke someone, namely Sasuke, "Now... we're alone now?"

Not wanting to go into detail about how there were quite a few mammals in the forest, and plenty of bugs, keeping in mind that one could be one of Shino's, keeping an eye on them, and that, though he was a top ninja, he (Sasuke) may have overlooked some ninja hiding in the bushes, which would only make Naruto paranoid anyway, Sasuke sighed in a thoughtful manner and said after a while, "Yes, I think we're alone now." Naruto had that cute and cuddly thing going on that always made Sasuke have nosebleeds and that got him more bruises from slaps then a lot of fights did, but also seemed to want to say something like, "Good; those morons that are always stalking you and yelling at me are assholes who don't deserve to witness true love," but instead, he sighed happily and turned his head, trying to face Sasuke so he could hear, but ending up speaking at his neck and causing him to shiver like crazy.

"You know, everything seems a lot better when we're alone." _Agreeable_, thought Sasuke.

"Hn..." said Sasuke, holding tight to Naruto with one hand and using the other to run up and down his spine and making Naruto sigh in a way that sounded like he was holding in a moan.

The grip Naruto had around Sasuke's neck loosened slightly, but instead, he gripped tight to his shirt, and growled slightly. "Why do they think we hate eachother...? Why can't they... accept anything... different?"

Sasuke pursed his lips. He'd asked himself the same question so many times, especially when he'd lay down at night and thinking over his day. People would stare in distaste and almost horror at the couple as they walk along, hand in hand; but then his thoughts were blind and only hateful, not logical, and when people stared like that, he usually ending up stopping, so Naruto would stumble, seeing as he was still holding Sasuke's hand, and Sasuke would pull on Naruto's hand, bringing him as close to himself as possible and either making a very big scene of saying how beautiful he was, while Naruto looked up in surprise and a slight embarrassment, or he'd kiss Naruto, and, depending on his mood, he'd kiss him lightly, causing Naruto to want more, or hard, making Naruto breath heavily and clutch at Sasuke's shirt.

The reactions were so priceless, Sasuke nearly always ended up sniggering into his kiss, which made Naruto moan, triggering Sasuke's let's-go-home-and-do-something-more-fun-than-going-out-for-ramen switch, which resulted in him getting slapped in the long run, no matter if he got his way or not.

When Sasuke didn't respond, due to the fact that he was lost in thought, Naruto took it upon himself to speak; "Teme?" Sasuke's thoughts seemed to disappear and he grunted in response, getting a better hold on Naruto once more. "Why can't we... always be alone?"

Sniffing from an itchy nose, Sasuke said, "You can't expect us to keep inside the estate for the rest of our lives. We have missions, and we have to go out and get food, not to mention your precious ramen..."

"Not like that, baka," Naruto grumbled, irritated with Sasuke's lack of poetic thinking, "Like... mentally."

_Well, I'll be damned... The dobe's thinking like someone with more brains than a cockroach... what a nice change of pace... _

"Care to explain?"

From the sound of it, Sasuke presumed Naruto was licking his lips; moistening them, not acting like he was staring at a bowl of ramen. Though, either way, Sasuke wished terribly that Naruto was looking at him so he could see... that... tongue...

Sasuke wiped away some drool that was hanging off his chin. _Damn me..._

"Like... eh..." Naruto started, thinking hard; he had known exactly what he had meant a second ago, and still had a slight grasp on the concept, but it was just so hard to put into words. "You know... when people... when people say things to us that... when they don't know what they're saying... Like... about you... not deserving..." he trailed off, and there was no need for Sasuke to hear the rest of the statement to understand, "Well... We... don't need them..." he said slowly, as if still trying to agree with himself. "What should we care what they think when they're words are so blind?" he growled a little more confidently, "We can be alone-"

"-no matter how many people are around," Sasuke finished for him, nodding, understanding.

"Right!" Naruto exclaimed in an excited tone, "No matter what people think, no matter who stares, no matter what they say-"

"-we can simply... be ourselves..."

"-and ignore them if they don't like it! Screw them all!" Naruto half shouted half laughed, "Man, I'm almost excited to try it!"

Chuckling, Sasuke was glad Naruto couldn't see the stupid smile that had washed over his face. Not only did it make him happy to have Naruto in such a good mood, especially after what had happened, but he, too, was rather excited. Part of the purpose of their "fight" had been to get the townsfolk off their back, so when they walked down the street, people wouldn't bother them about being rivals, meaning they should have a big fight against one another. They'd had their stupid fight, just like those morons wanted, so they should stop bothering them and leave them to their life. It was like, to prove that, though they fought, it didn't break anything; their love was too strong. People would either see that and let them be, or they wouldn't, and now that they were satisfied, they'd stop pestering them for a fight; but now the idea of openly expressing their feelings just like they would at home (to some limit, of course- fu fu fu...), it just seemed like one of those why-didn't-we-think-of-this-earlier type ideas. Not only would it get rid of Sasuke's fan girls and troublesome anti-SasuNarus, but also, just imagining the looks on everyone's faced when they saw them... Sasuke smirked evilly... This would be good.

Most of their walk home was Sasuke listening to Naruto's ideas for their open affection plan. Less than half way home, it was clear that, not only could Naruto walk, but he could also probably walk without Sasuke's help. Still, Naruto stayed put, and Sasuke didn't complain, specially when Naruto had stopped talking, exhausted from the events of the day, and had basically fell asleep on Sasuke's shoulder. Though most of the town had gone home and closed shop, there were still _some_ people out, and the "Open Affection" plan was put into action as people stared, open-mouthed. Sasuke particularly enjoyed the scene he'd made when he'd reached the gates of the estate.

There were several girls hanging around, which happened often as they enjoyed getting glimpses of Sasuke whenever possible. The girls squealed, glancing eagerly at eachother and blushing deeply. One girl had opened her mouth and started saying, "Heya, Sas-" but then, as each girl had suddenly spotted the other boy clinging to Sasuke, the group fell quiet in shock and hope; praying that this was nothing romantic. As Sasuke passed the girls, they saw the blood stains all over Naruto, and some on Sasuke too, and they let out sighs of relief that were drowned by Sasuke snapping, "This isn't a hang out place; don't let me see your face here again unless with good reason." The girls shook their heads and watched silently as Sasuke strode off.

One could _almost_ pity the girls for not leaving sooner, for as Sasuke stopped in the middle of the path, he looked back at the girls, and the girls, being girls, each presuming Sasuke had looked back because he was interested in one of them, blushed furiously and waved shyly at Sasuke. Puffing angrily, Sasuke turned his head away and looked down at Naruto, stroking his hair and shaking his shoulder. The boy groaned and shifted in Sasuke's arms before lifting his head and making a, "Hn?" sound. But not even that managed to escape his lips fully before Sasuke cupped Naruto's face in one hand and pulled him into a deep, warm kiss. Naruto's eyes widened in shock, but as Sasuke didn't pull away, he allowed his lids to droop, then close, and gave into the kiss, giving back his all and moaning sensually into Sasuke's mouth.

Several yards back, the three girls stood there, mouths hanging open and eyes ready to fall out of their sockets. There couldn't have been a girl in Konoha (sp?) that didn't want to be Naruto for at _least_ a second of that seemingly three minute kiss; even if they didn't like Sasuke, it was hard to not fantasize about being kissed like that by _anyone_, even if it /had/ to be Sasuke. Granted, there could have been a fair few girls that wanted to be Sasuke then instead; all depends on your taste I suppose. Of course, these had been three teenage girls, so it was inevitable that the news of Sasuke and Naruto would spread like a forest fire with gas. Though it had to be hard to be able to speak of it after seeing such a scene. Especially the little wink they got from Naruto as Sasuke headed back down the road and Naruto settled himself back on Sasuke's shoulder again. Yes, these girls meant nothing; they were alone now.

**Author's Notes:** As a side note; a friend of mine recommended I listen to the song, "I Think We're Alone Now" (I listened to the one by Tiffany, so I don't know who the original's by :'3 So I have no disclaimers except that I don't own it.), and she mentioned that it reminded her of SasuNaru (or NaruSasu, which she prefers P:) and I thought about it, and it kind of did, so I decided to write something on it. This wasn't my first idea, but this is the one I ended up using

Yes, it got out of hand and ended up being very long, but I hope you like it! If it's really _too _long, I'll just seperate it into two chapters if you'd like -sweat drop- Please review! Love and hugs- Hazy Daze


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